Stranded in Equestria
by CaptainRedclaws
Summary: A fanfic writer is struggling with a new story, and through a highly painful and unfortunate series of events, finds himself in a new world. How will our hero deal with being Stranded in Equestria?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello. I would like everyone to know that this is my story, I am the original author. If you have seen all this before with a different name, I want you to believe me when I say, we two authors are the same. I've changed the name around, but will most likely be uploading these story chapters once or twice a week, unless the response is as overwhelming as last time. I'm sorry for the delay to anyone who enjoyed it originally, but here you go, Stranded in Equestria.**

**Enjoy.**

**Thursday morning- Matthew's house**

I sat at the desk bouncing a ball off of the wall. Writing one crappy fanfic was easy, but thinking of an idea that wasn't crappy was nearly impossible. I continued to bounce the ball against the wall while I ran through some possibilities. 'How about a tragic story?' I thought at myself. 'Nope' I responded in my head. I leaned back in my chair slightly in an attempt to find a more comfortable position.

There's always that moment when you know you're going to fall, and as soon I felt it I flailed my arms, but it was to no avail. I braced for impact, but it seemed to not be coming. As if on cue the chair hit the floor, hard.

**Unknown location- Assumed Thursday morning**

I rolled off of the chair with a groan. For some reason, all of my everything hurt. I expected a knock on the head maybe, but nothing like this. My eyes took a few moments to refocus, but when they did it was strange to say the least. Now I had only lived there for 13 years, but I was pretty sure my home didn't have shelves upon shelves of books.

I got a good look as I rose to my feet, this definitely wasn't my home. I didn't know where I was. Aside from being sore, I felt fine. I actually felt better than before my fall after the pain subsided. It was as if the fall actually knocked some of the sickness and ills right out of me. My lungs were fine, no asthma. My arms seemed more muscled than before. That was all fine by me.

I decided to do a bit of looking around. I walked down an aisle of shelves, looking for an exit of some sort. I saw one and jogged towards it. I pushed open the door and took a step outside. I had a moment to see a grand castle, some walls, and a beautiful but empty courtyard.

Following this brief moment of thoughtful examination I was tackled to the ground and knocked unconscious.

When I came to I was sitting in a room that looked like a hyper secure living room. There was a couch, a chair, and a coffee table in the center of the room and a rug underneath them. The walls were made of a cool dark stone that felt almost like a metal. The door was the only thing that made the room seem slightly menacing. It was made of solid iron and had only a small slit in it. As I looked at it, the door swung open and I nearly had a heart attack.

Standing before me was a large, white horse with both wings and a horn. Her multicolored mane flowed about as though there was a breeze, although ,as far as I could tell, there was not. I pinched myself. This was Princess Celestia!

I fell to a knee in respect. "Rise." she said as she walked towards me. "Do you know why you're here Matthew?" she asked. "Well, no. Not really." I answered. How did she know my name? She continued speaking, saying, "I brought you here as an act of kindness, for all of your compassion and hard work in your universe. While it may have seemed minor at the time, the fall off of your chair would've killed you. You would've tipped back too far and smashed your head against the table behind you, breaking your neck." I winced. Ouch.

"So wait, am I dead?" I asked. She shook her head. "Not quite. Your consciousness came here at my call moments before your death. I placed it inside of a body we crafted and placed the body on a chair that was falling so you wouldn't be quite so shocked. The building you awoke in was the Canterlot Library. I do apologize for the roughness of the guards, they did not know you were coming." I waved it off, "It's completely fine. Let's go back to the moving my consciousness part. Does that mean...?" The princess nodded grimly. "Your friends and family think you dead. I am sorry. I wish I could send you back, but the amount of chaos it would cause is too great."

I nodded slowly. "Alright. Wow. Is there a bedroom I can go to? I need to lie down and take this all in." The Princess nodded and called for a guard. The silent protector ushered me to a large extravagant room. I walked to the bed and lay down.

The tears flowed freely. I wasn't ashamed. I was effectively dead to everyone I knew and loved. The adjustment between universes was going to take a while.

**Three weeks later**

I walked into the main hall of the Canterlot Castle, as I had every day for nearly a month now. I had to admit that living in a castle was pretty sweet, the beds were comfy, the food was good, and the library was amazing.

I absolutely love reading, so all these new books on new subjects, plus the fact that I was in Equestria, it was amazing.

I hadn't completely forgotten about my previous life, but being of a logical mind, I realized that I couldn't get that life back, so I shouldn't worry about it. That didn't stop the random crying fits, but it sure did help.

Today the dining hall seemed a little different than usual. There was a lavender unicorn with a mostly purple mane sitting where I usually sat. Now, I wouldn't be a proper Brony if I couldn't recognize Twilight Sparkle when I saw her.

I sat in the seat across from Twilight and said, "Hello, you're Twilight Sparkle, no?" Twilight looked slightly astonished, but nodded. "Well," I continued, "It is a pleasure to meet you Miss Sparkle, I'm Matt." Twilight smiled and said, "It's nice to meet you Matt. Princess Celestia, you said that Matt was training to be a librarian, right?" I laughed. I spoke before the Princess could, saying, "I wouldn't say that I've been training as a librarian, I've actually just been reading as many of the wonderful books within the library that I can get my hands on." The princesses laughed at the comment and Twilight smiled.

Princess Celestia stopped laughing gradually and looked to me. "Matthew," she said, "Today Twilight Sparkle is returning to her home in Ponyville. I would like for you to accompany her." I grinned, "I would be happy to." I said, "When are we leaving?" Princess Celestia consulted a clock before saying, "As soon as possible. I guess it's good that you don't need to pack anything except for your clothes, isn't it?" We all shared a laugh before I excused myself to go pack.

I grabbed all of my clothes and put them into a bag. When I had arrived, I had only a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, and my swim team sweatshirt. Around my eighth day here Princess Celestia invited Rarity to the castle to assist in designing a new wardrobe for me.

It was all nearly the same, just cargo shorts and t- shirts, but there were some distinct differences, such as small gems all about the shorts and delicate silk designs on the t- shirts. It was almost like a new class of fashion. High casual, or something.

I found Rarity's gossip, or "shop talk" as she called it, boring, but she insisted on keeping up a constant stream of information that I had no use for. I had no doubt that as soon as she got to Ponyville word would spread like wildfire about this "strange new creature".

When I finished packing I brought my bag to the main hall. Princess Celestia and her sister Luna were there to see me and Twilight off. I gave a slight bow to Princess Celestia, who bowed in return. After that I went over and hugged Luna. Princess Celestia was kind, but Luna was definitely a little more likable, seeing as Princess Celestia could be a little stiff and uptight at times. When the goodbyes were said, Twilight and I headed out.

The flying chariot that was supposed to bring us to Ponyville was on the other side of the city, so we began the long walk. Twilight stopped at a point and, after a moment of thought, said, "Hey Matt? I think we're going the wrong way. Let's cut through here, it should put is back on track." I shrugged and followed her, seeing as I had no clue where anything was in the city.

As we walked through the gloomy alley I had a feeling that someone, or somepony I guess, was following us. I turned around and sure enough there was a shady looking pony with a knife held low in a black aura of magic. "Alright pal, gimme all your money." Twilight stopped and went to shout, but the criminal saw her. He rushed at her, but as he passed me I drove my shoulder into the side of his flank, right on the depiction of a mask over a bag of money that had to be his cutie mark. The criminal fell over, so I picked him up. He had dropped the knife already and the fall had left him dazed.

I dragged the protesting, kicking criminal to the street, where I left him in front of the police station, tied to a post with a small piece of magical rope and with a note taped to his forehead explaining what he had done.

Twilight and I continued to the chariot, which we then proceeded to board. The chariot took off, and Twilight turned to me and said, a bit awkwardly, "So Matt. That was pretty impressive, and you have my thanks. Is there any way I can repay you?" I shook my head and said, "You don't need to pay me, I was just doing the right thing." Twilight replied, "Still, every good action deserves a reward. How about I treat you to lunch on Friday and let you stay in the guest room at the library?" I sighed and said, "If I refuse this payment, will you just keep insisting?" I asked. Twilight nodded. "Well then," I said, "Friday it is." Twilight smiled.

That little snippet of conversation was the only part that wasn't awkward for the rest of the flight.

Twilight seemed uncharacteristically nervous, as though she had no idea what to say or how to act. However awkward it got, it wasn't as bad as the drivel that Rarity was spewing. Maybe she was awkward because I was a different species? Who knows? All I knew was that the sun was shining, the air was fresh, and the scenery beautiful. I might be able to get used to all this. I might just come to like being stranded in Equestria.

**Usual deal down here, review if you liked it or if you didn't. PM with anything if you want. Have a nice day.**

**Redclaws out.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone, I recently unearthed each and every chapter of my first good story. I'll upload a chapter every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until I get caught up on all of them. In the mean time I'll be writing further chapters. If you all like these I'll post more often, enjoy.**

**i do not own any of this. Except the product of my imagination. That I own. **

Chapter 2

I woke from my dreamless sleep to find myself feeling better than I had in days. On Earth I had trouble getting to sleep, but apparently here in Equestria that was different. I walked about my room for a good minute and finally went to the mirror to organize myself for the day ahead. The first thing I noticed was the tattoo of a silver shield that had, startlingly enough, appeared overnight upon my left pectoral. I recoiled from the mirror in surprise and went into my bathroom to take a shower and try to clear the sleep from my head, so I could better handle this situation. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get the tattoo to come off. I emerged from the shower feeling refreshed and ready to start the day. My hair had kind of fallen into place after my shower, so I didn't comb it. I put on one of the outfits that Rarity had made for me. It was a simple outfit consisting of a pair of khaki cargo shorts, a blue tee shirt, and white sneakers. Atop it all I put on my swim team sweatshirt and left the room. I had noticed that I no longer needed my glasses or contacts, so I left them both on the bathroom counter.

I looked around the room for Twilight, but didn't see her anywhere. I instead saw Spike walking back and forth along the bookshelves, dusting them. "Spike!" I called out, "Where's Twilight?" He looked away from his chores for a minute to answer me. "She ran into town." he said "She should be back soon though." I briefly considered going into town to find her, but dismissed that thought. We were friends, and I didn't want to seem desperate. "Maybe you can help me with something Spike." I said as I started to take off my sweatshirt. "Umm, ok," he said "but I reserve the right to stop if this gets creepy." "Noted." I said as I finished taking off my shirt. He apparently noticed the tattoo just as quickly as I did. "Holy guacamole! How'd you get that?" "I don't know! It just showed up this morning!" I replied honestly. "Well," said Spike, "that's a cutie mark my friend. Can you remember anything you did that had to do with shields yesterday?" I thought about it, and then snapped my fingers as I remembered the incident in the alleyway. "I had to defend Twilight Sparkle from a mugger yesterday, could that be it?" I asked. Spike furiously nodded his head up and down as he said, "Well duh! If it was something that obvious you should've guessed yourself! Your special talent must be protecting other ponies" I hadn't thought about the possibility of getting a cutie mark, but I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, with all this insanity going on.

I got so wrapped up in my thoughts I forgot to put my shirt back on. I only noticed when Twilight walked in, looked at me, gave a little 'squee' sound, and ran upstairs to her room. Spike thought this was hilarious and started cracking up. I was embarrassed at first, but the baby dragon's laugh proved to be infectious, and I ended up laughing alongside him until my sides hurt and my face turned red. As I was putting on my sweatshirt Spike said, "You're a pretty cool guy Matt, how'd you like to hang out with me and the guys tonight?" I didn't have anything to do, so I agreed to go with him later that night.

As me and Spike walked down the road Sweet Apple Acres came into sight. Spike had told me that it was Big Mac's turn to host poker night. We knocked on the barn door and were greeted by Big Mac. The big red pony just stared at me and Spike for a second before he said, "Eeyup!", seemingly unfazed by my appearance. Following Spike into the barn I saw that it had been set up for poker night already, obviously not by Pinkie Pie though. The table was in the middle of the barn, with a couple of smaller tables with some snacks and drinks on them off to the side. Spike and I were apparently the last to arrive. Already seated at the table were Quick Draw and Doctor Whooves. Both looked up and gave quick friendly greetings, that is after the initial shock of seeing a human for the first time, of course. We all grabbed some drinks and waited for Big Mac to start dealing the cards. The game was fun, even though I was losing most of the hands. Poker never really was my thing, I was more of a swimming and tennis kind of guy. It was about 11 when Doctor Whooves announced that he had to leave, something about a call box or something. While everypony said good bye, Quick Draw turned to me and said, "I don't know how, but you and me? We're connected. Do you feel it too?" I gave a little chuckle, deciding not to explain the intricacies of him being a product of my imagination in my universe. Before too long it was time to clear out of the barn. Big Mac gave a resounding "Nope!" when we tried to leave without cleaning, and nobody wanted to try and stare down their big red friend. The cleanup was done in no time, and before I knew it I was in my bed, fast asleep.

When I woke up it was nearing noon on Friday. I scrambled out of bed, trying to get my bearings. I'd had one of those dreams that you know was really weird, but when you try to grab it, poof, away it goes. As I calmed down I remembered that today was my lunch with Twilight in about... 15 minutes. Great. I took what was probably the fastest shower of my life, got dressed in a button down shirt and a pair of jeans, and ran out the door to the cafe. I saw Twilight standing on the line near the door. I decided to sneak up on her, and put my hands over her eyes, saying "Guess who?" She answered "Well the only being I know with hands would be Matt." I took my hands off of her eyes and she turned around with a smile on her face. "So glad to see you! When Spike said you were still asleep I had thought that you forgot about this." I shook my head and said "I wouldn't miss this." She seemed happy to hear this and was about to say something, but just then the host called out "Errm, Greenfield? Party of two!" I walked up to him and said, "That's me." The clearly astonished waiter lead us to our table. He was unnerved by my appearance, but tried not to show it. As we flipped through the menus, the waiter asked us what we would like to drink. I asked for a water, and Twilight asked for the same. The drinks came quickly, and seeing as I had no clue what ponies ate, I let Twilight order for me. She ordered two salads, one for her, and one for me. While we waited for our food we did some talking. "So," she began "About yesterday. I'm sorry I freaked out like that, it's just that it's been so long since I've been near a boy I didn't know how to act, let alone what to do if a boy seemed interested in what I had to say, and seemed to prefer me to my 'beautiful' friend." something about how she said the word 'beautiful' made it sound bad. "I really don't know how a guy couldn't find you interesting," I replied, I lowered my voice and added "And I think that you are prettier than Rarity, if it counts for anything." Apparently it did count for something, because Twilight's face turned a brighter red than any apple that had come out of Applejack's farm. "Thank you. I wouldn't really know what the stallions around here think of me, I've really only talked to Big Mac and Sheriff Quick Draw, and neither of them expressed any interest because Big Mac is taken, and Quick Draw is so much older than me. Other than that, there's been nopony. I guess I was always too wrapped up in my studies." I began to understand why Twilight had seemed so awkward yesterday, and I could totally relate to her. "I know what you mean, I was always shy and awkward around girls on Earth, so I started doing things where I could avoid those awkward situations." Twilight listened intently as I relayed the story of my, nearly exclusively single, life. By then our food had come, so we both dug into it. I never was a fan of salad, but this was great! It was mostly lettuce, with some small bits of carrots, onions, and tomatoes. When we finished we decided to skip desert and leave. Twilight paid, which hit me right where it hurts, the gentleman's honor. I resolved to get a job as soon as possible. The walk back to the library was less eventful than our walk through Canterlot, with 100% less muggings. Once inside the treehouse, Twilight put her head against my chest, and I put my arms around her neck in a friendly embrace. "We should do that again sometime." she said. I nodded my agreement, and shambled off towards my bed. I was a pretty smart guy, and loved talking to other smart people. Until speaking with Twilight, I had no idea how tiring mentally stimulating conversation could be. We had filled each others heads with random, useless trivia about our homeworlds, most of which I imagined my brain filed away in the 'forget this as soon as you fall asleep' folder. I was dead tired as I laid down, and I fell asleep with the image of Twilight smiling in my mind.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I rose from my slumber slowly, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I didn't want to get up so early but I had to, I had put it off all weekend, but this Monday I was going to find a job. The weekend had passed quickly, Twilight and I had gone out for lunch again on Sunday, and Saturday was spent sleeping and eating, basically just recuperating from the cross universal travel. I hadn't noticed how much of a toll it had taken on my energy reserves until my lunch with Twilight. I had fallen asleep after that meal and only later I learned that I had fallen asleep at 3:00 in the afternoon. After my 'nap day', as Spike put it, I felt back to normal. I dressed as usual and walked out of the library into the bright, cheery day. Most of the ponies now either ignored me or greeted me with a simple wave or nod of the head. Sunday morning and evening had been spent introducing me to everypony in Ponyville, courtesy of Pinkie Pie. It had taken the pink wonder the 2 hours before lunch to introduce me to every shop and business owner, and three hours after to introduce me to everyone else. I had reached my destination quicker than I thought I would, and walked up to the school building, past the 'Teacher's aide wanted' sign, and into the main hallway. The hallway was lined with little cubby holes for the little colts and fillies to put there things, and at the end was the classroom. Cheerilee sat behind her desk grading papers, a impressively intense look on her face as she furiously crossed, checked, circled, and marked the papers. I cleared my throat to get her attention, and she looked up. "Oh," she said, "I didn't see you there. How can I help you... Matt, right?" I nodded my head and said, "Yeah, that's right. I came here to ask about the job, you have the sign out there..." She shook her head up and down furiously and said, "Yes, oh Celestia yes! Finally someone interested in the job! When can you start?" I was shocked that I had gotten the job that quickly. "Well," I said, "Today, I guess!" Cheerilee hopped up and down saying, "Great! Now I won't be the only one here for these colts and fillies! The pay is good, you'll get 60 bits a day. You'll need to be here at 7:30 each morning, and you can leave at 1 in the afternoon. Your job will basically be to help the kids with their work while I grade their papers and such. If you have any questions on the subjects just ask me, I'll be happy to help." I checked my watch, it was 7:20 AM so school would be starting in 10 minutes. 'Okay,' I thought to myself 'this is good, you'll have money for your dates and this will be a great way to meet kids from around Ponyville.' The first kids started trickling in at about 7:25 and everyone was there by the time school started. Cheerilee introduced me to the class, which drew some mixed reactions from the assembled kids. Most were indifferent, but a few, like Sweetie Belle, seemed frightened. The only pony whose reaction struck me as odd was Scootaloo. She kind of did a little swooning motion, and held her hands over her chest. The day passed uneventfully, I answered questions and helped with worksheets. At the end of the day Cheerilee thanked me and gave me my pay. I decided that I should celebrate this occasion, my first job in Ponyville, with a nice dinner. I made my way back to the library, and when I entered Twilight smiled and asked, "Where have you been all day?" I just grinned and said, "Nowhere, since it's too late for lunch, and I can actually stay awake that late now, do you wanna go out for dinner?" Twilight smiled and said she would love to, she just needed to get some stuff done first. I went to take a nap before dinner, the thought of Twilight's face when I reveal my surprise at dinner tonight dominating my dreams.

Monday night

We sat at the same table that we sat at when we had lunch on Friday, and I ordered the same salad that I did then as well. The only difference was the drinks. Skipping the water, I ordered a bottle of wine for me and Twilight to share. It became clear about half way through the meal that Twilight was a complete lightweight. We hadn't even gotten our meals and she was already tipsy. It was kind of hard to keep up a conversation with the usually intelligent pony while she was drunk. She rambled on about whatever seemed to be in her mind at the moment. It was cute, and I put up with it while she kept drinking. By the time we had finished our meals she was full on drunk. When the waiter presented the bill it came out to 45 bits. Twilight went to get her purse out, but I stopped her, saying "Oh no. I've got it this time." I pulled out the money and handed it to the waiter. Twilight and I left the restaurant soon after. The whole way back to the library she leaned heavily on me, muttering things to herself. I thought I heard the words 'love', 'strong', and 'Mike' but I couldn't be certain. When we arrived at the doorstep Twilight seemed to make an attempt at composing herself. "Thank you," she slurred, "for thish wonderful night." I just smiled and said, "The pleasure was all mine, Twi." She put on a goofy grin and said, "How can I pay you back?" I shook my head and said, "Don't worry about it. I owed you, or did you forget?" "No, I remembered, I jusht trying to think of shumthing for you." "Don't worry about it, like I sa-" Twilight cut me off by stumbling over to me and pressing her lips against mine in a drunken kiss. My heart seemed to stop, she kissed me. Twilight giggled and said, "That should do it." I just kind of opened and closed my mouth, which made Twilight giggle again. Twilight walked into the library, and I came in shortly thereafter. We both drifted off to bed pretty quickly. I hugged her goodnight and drifted off to bed, still in a daze. I was wondering if she would remember the kiss tomorrow when I fell into a deep sleep filled with dreams of purple ponies and wine.


End file.
